Pharmacists said they needed more support in the form of pharmacy technicians so they could be freed up to focus more on their clinical duties rather than technical duties. They also noted that pharmacists had to be willing to delegate these duties.

A sample of what pharmacists said:
Even in an enlightened work place, pharmacists will never find the time to maximize their expanded scope if they do not appropriately delegate manual tasks to registered pharmacy technicians. Pharmacists and owners are still not clear on how they can insert [pharmacy technicians] in their workflow.

Now that registered pharmacy technicians (RPTs) are a reality, the NSCP needs to provide pharmacists and owners with guidance on where the RPT can be used to meet standards.

By ensuring there is better staffing (be it actual overlap of pharmacists or hiring regulated technicians) the pharmacist can actually do appropriate counselling and/or clinical activities.

What the NSCP will do:
Direction 2 in the NSCP’s strategic plan is to Engage in Practice Environment Concerns.

The following major initiative under this direction will help address the barrier of technical support:
1. Initiate continuing dialogue between the NSCP and pharmacy owners on workplace issues.